Are You Spamming?

According to a BBC News report on the World Economic Forum in Davos, up to a quarter of the world's computers on the Internet are now under the control of cyber criminals! That's between 100 and 150 million computers out of 600 million! Criminals' botnets use "innocent" computers they've infected with trojan virus programs to send spam e-mails, launch denial-of-service attacks or commit online fraud or phishing scams. Is your computer part of a botnet? Last year, a friend of a friend moaned that his PC was taking ages to "warm up". Armed with AVG FREE Anti-Virus (CLICK) and Spybot Search & Destroy (CLICK), our friend cured this problem: the PC was riddled with trojans and was spending up to an hour after bootup posting spam e-mails! One very guilty PC, but an innocent owner. How did his PC become so heavily infested? It was an unprotected family computer: kids download free games; Dad seeks tasteful screensavers; Mum browses porn sites in hopes of finding what men want, to make herself more seductive. These are the websites that commonly lure punters into delivering their computers to the criminals. Browser Hijack Blaster is another useful safeguard; it's been discontinued, but you can find its replacement here (CLICK).